After coming back from a hip injury last winter, sophomore Jay Hoke got first place at the Washburn Rural Invitational after going 4-0 in singles and finished it off with a straight-set win after beating an NEK Homeschool student 6-2, 6-3.
Hoke had previously won the Centennial League title that earned him a spot at State last year, but also had a rough couple of matches that dropped his ranking from No. 1 to No. 7 seeding for state. Hoke has hopes to redeem himself this season.
“I did a lot of offseason training,” Hoke said. “I’ve also been going to the gym a little bit to get stronger, among other things.”
Hoke’s fellow singles teammate, freshman Ayavanth Natarajan, started his career off strong, going 3-1, finishing in ninth place and winning the consolation bracket. Despite being a new edition to the team, Natarajan plans to work up to qualifying State, an achievement his older brother Advith did last season.
“We kind of have a similar play style,” Natarajan said. “I’m pretty sure I have a little bit more talent than he had at my age…he had a little more loopy balls, and I guess I kind of had the same backhand…I will work to finish what my brother failed at.”
Junior Samuel Byerly and senior Zac Morgan came together as an energetic double to go 2-2 for fourth place, while seniors Leonce Valentin and Drew Foltz also went 2-2, placing in 10th. Foltz had suffered a shoulder injury during the day of the tournament, potentially unable to play for the remainder of the season.
“We definitely could have played better, if we got more serves in that would have really given us a chance at first,” said Byerly. “But overall, we played pretty good…The net game was solid.”
With it being early in the season, the MHS boys tennis team is going with the motions as they move to their next tournament at Olathe South.
“I think it is going to be great coming to the meet on Friday again at Olathe,” Natarajan said. “And I think we’re going to keep changing the roster, and I think it should be finalized around the Kansas City invite. The KC invite is the hardest meet for us, because it’s all the Kansas City kids, some from that Missouri side. We go the day before, stay in a hotel, and then at 8am just start going at it…That’s going to be a fun ride.”
